Indigenous Scholarship Program

Overview

The Indigenous Scholarship Program is administered in partnership with the Community Enterprise Foundation (CEF).

While the number of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students enrolling in university is growing, these students are more than twice as likely to leave university in their first year compared to other domestic students. Among Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students who had seriously considered leaving university, financial difficulty was the most commonly reported reason (44 per cent).

For this reason, Community Sector Banking and Community Enterprise Foundation are committed to providing financial assistance to students while they are studying at university or TAFE or towards an apprenticeship.

Scholarships available:

Limitations

Eligibility criteria:

To be eligible for a scholarship in 2019, you should consider the following criteria:

Category 1 (two scholarships available) 
To be eligible, the following criteria must be met: 

• Identifies as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander 
• First year undergraduate in 2019 (first attendance at an Australian university) 
• Studying full-time in 2019 (in an approved Australian course) 
• Residing in Australia while undertaking study

Category 2 (one scholarship available) 
To be eligible, the following criteria must be met: 

• Identifies as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander 
• First year undergraduate in 2019 (first attendance at an Australian university) 
• Studying full-time in 2019 either on campus or online at the University of Wollongong (in an approved Australian course) 
• Residing in Australia while undertaking study

Category 3 (two scholarships available) 
To be eligible, the following criteria must be met:

• Identifies as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander 
• Be enrolled (or offered a place) in an eligible course of at least 10 weeks duration (or part-time equivalent) 
• Residing in Australia while undertaking study 
• Eligible courses include Certificates I, II, III or IV, Diplomas, Advanced Diplomas or Associate degrees 
• Apprenticeships and traineeships are not eligible for Category 3

Category 4 (four scholarships available) 
To be eligible, the following criteria must be met: 

• Identifies as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander 
• Be enrolled in TAFE or working in an approved Registered Training Organisation (RTO) for the duration of the apprenticeship/traineeship 
• Residing in Australia while undertaking study 
• You are still eligible if you have successfully completed study at TAFE or approved RTOs previously

Exclusions:

Scholarships will not be awarded to: 

• Students who do not identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 
• Courses at international institutions 
• Courses at institutions other than Australian universities, TAFEs and RTOs
• Students who are taking a gap year in 2019 
• TAFE provided VETIS, foundation level training and short courses.